3 Visits to Utah

We went to Utah three times in 2018

1. Summer
Really, Utah in July was a pit stop on the way to our family reunion in Idaho, but it did have its own fun. We went to the Provo Independence Day Parade, which I grew up goinf to almost every year of my childhood. It was hotter than I remember, with less candy, and I'm second-guessing how fun parades are in general, but afterward we swam at a pool nearby and had pizza for lunch, so it was all very American. Porter hiked several peaks, I visited some friends, but the highlight of it all was Uncle Rob's 60th birthday. It was a luau and everyone on mom's side was there. Highlights include a Rob themed game Family Feud, catching up with cousins I rarely see, and everyone taping dollar bills to Rob and lifting him up in a chair. He loved it (who wouldn't), and his reaction to everything made everything doubly rewarding.

2. Fall
We bought a minivan! Turns out there are more minivans on the market in Utah, driving down the price. Plus, Utah in October is delightful. I got what I wanted out of a van (it's not silver or gray, has dual climate control and third row seats that fold down for a mega trunk), and we've so far convinced Jamie that the build in DVD player only works after at least five hours of driving and after he has napped in the car.

3. Winter
Christmas in Utah is just lovely. Aside from the hassle of cramming gifts and snow gear into carryon bags (too cheap to pay for checked bags!), everything else about the trip was merry and bright. I saw a bunch of mission friends who I love with this deep part of my heart I forget exists until I see them. We went sledding twice (once with my mom, once with Porter's), then it snowed the last few days we were there (but not so much it was hard to get around). We saw a Christmas light show with Scott and Joy, saw the lights at Temple Square Christmas Day night (say fewer crowds!), and listened to Christmas music all day every day. My mom has mountains of Christmas decorations (several of which I tried to get her to let me steal from her, unsuccessfully) and is filled with Christmas cheer. My dad carved me an Ivory Soap Jesus. It was a perfect holiday.

3 Favorite Books I Read in 2018

I read 35 books in 2018! That somehow feels like both a lot and barely any, especially when I look at how many books there are I have never read. There's probably some obscure word in Japanese for the anxiety of not being able to read all the books one wants to read. If not, there should be.

I may have read more than 35, but I rated 35 on Goodreads. Sometimes I forget to update, and I don't ever add the romance books I read unless they are unusual or unforgettable (the ones I read are usually neither, but I like them anyway).

Looking over the list, it's hard to pick favorites. None knocked me off my feet quite like Tell the Wolves I'm Home last year, but several really stuck with me. Like a good, solid meal.

1. Pachinko
This hit a few major boxes for me:
-Sweeping, multi-generational (four generations, multiple perspectives from each generation)
-A time and/or place I have never thought about (Japanese people of Korean descent through most of the 1900s??)
-Pulled off an omniscient narrator. This is impossible, but Min Jin Lee got you inside almost everyone's heads, sometimes even within the same paragraph, and still it felt personal

I couldn't tell you now what my takeaways from the book were, but I enjoyed it immensely.

2. Fates and Furies
Among the more literary and pretentious books I read a bunch of this year, Fates and Furies was fascinating. It was a microscope on a single relationship over the course of each person's life, the first half from his perspective, the second half from hers.

3. Year of Wonder or Caleb's Crossing, both by Geraldine Brooks
Year of Wonder is set in a small English town during the Plague. Caleb's Crossing follows the friendship between a white Puritan girl and Native American boy in Martha's Vineyard and Boston.

Both got me thinking about places and eras I never have before, both had strong, complex women as narrators. Both had me wishing I could have experienced life centuries ago (not that I'd want to be near the plague or the destruction of Native American civilization).